For the ninety-ninth time since I escaped that world, Quinn Delgado found me again.

He sent his message through the System.

"Mistress, the male lead says Virginia Henson's depression is acting up. She wants to eat the chicken curry you make, and he wants you to come back right now and cook it for her."

The Virginia the System spoke of was the female lead of that world.

"The male lead says if you don't come back, he'll send your child to the children's home."

The same excuse. I'd heard it ninety-nine times now.

For my son's sake, I gave in again.

When I got back to the mansion, Quinn was watching a movie with Virginia in his arms.

I walked into the kitchen, and half an hour later carried out a bowl of chicken curry.

Quinn looked at me. "Ginny doesn't sleep well at night, so I have to keep an eye on her. You sleep in the guest room for a few days."

I nodded and said all right.

"She keeps having nightmares. Lend her your good-luck charm again."

I reached out and pressed the charm into Virginia's hand.

Watching me obey so easily, Quinn paused.

"Since when did you get so reasonable?"

"What, still thinking about leaving?"

He let out a soft laugh. "Why put yourself through all this? You know perfectly well that as long as the child is here, you'll always come back."

Quinn was certain I would never leave him.

But what he didn't know was that I'd already found a way to take my son and escape with me.

Once I saved up another three hundred points, I would never come back again.

…

I didn't argue with him. I kept my eyes down, my voice flat.

"Anything else? If not, I'll go pack my things in the master bedroom."

Quinn stared at me, fixed.

After a long silence, he suddenly laughed under his breath.

"Narelle Mason, where's that spirit of yours?"

His tone came slow, flippant and pressing at once.

"You used to fight over everything. You'd throw a fit every single time. How did you get so obedient now?"

Inside I felt nothing. Not the slightest ripple.

It wasn't that I had never cried or made a scene.

But what had it gotten me?

Quinn always found some way to make me give in.

The cruelest time was when my father suddenly died.

I had just given birth then.

My body was weak. Even sitting up was a struggle.

All I could do was beg Quinn, beg him to help me handle the funeral.

He agreed without hesitation at the time.

But when it came down to it, Virginia tossed out one light little line, that her beloved cat had gone missing and she was too frightened to sleep.

Quinn didn't say a word. He turned and went off to look for the cat with her.

He cast away all my pleading like worn-out rags.

That day the rain came down in sheets. I forced my weak body upright and drove a thousand miles.

I brought my father's body home alone, carried the whole funeral on my own.

My father was the person closest to me.

I cried until I had nothing left, fainted, and was taken to the hospital.

Severe postpartum depression pressed down on me until I couldn't breathe.

There were countless times I even wanted to die.

That was also the first time I escaped that world.

But that same night, Quinn found me.

He said if I insisted on not going back, he would dig up my father's grave.

My father was my only family in that world.

In my original world I had been an orphan, with no one to lean on.

It was the father in that world who let me feel what warmth was.

For his sake, in the end I still bowed my head.

"Quinn, this chicken curry seems a little spicy."

"My stomach's been bothering me lately. I can't eat anything spicy."

Virginia's voice cut through my thoughts.

She pouted, tugging gently at Quinn as she complained.

I kept my eyes lowered, perfectly clear inside.

I knew the dish I'd made didn't have a single bit of chili in it.

The flavor was as mild as it could be.

After all, this wasn't the first time she'd framed me.

I opened my mouth, wanting to argue back.

But in the next breath I swallowed every word.

There was no point explaining anymore.

I turned and walked into the kitchen.

Without a sound, I set the pan back on the heat and started over.

I made three versions, each a different flavor, so she'd have nothing to pick at.

But when I carried the plates out, Virginia only gave them a faint glance before sinking lazily into Quinn's arms.

"I don't feel like eating after all. Quinn, I'm a little sleepy. I want to lie down."

His expression softened.

That tenderness in his eyes was something I hadn't seen in a long time.

He reached down and lifted her steadily into his arms.

"All right. I'll take you to bed."

With that, he turned and carried her toward the master bedroom.

Not once did he spare me a glance.

I stood where I was, watching their backs recede, my heart still as dead water.

My heart had already died a few hundred times over.

There was nothing left in me now that could stir.

I cleared the table in silence, then went into the guest room and packed up the few things I owned.

I had just finished when Quinn's voice came from the doorway.

"Narelle. Come here."

I set down what was in my hands and went into the master bedroom.

The room was a wreck.

Quinn's clothes and Virginia's lay scattered across the floor.

What they'd done was obvious at a glance.

It stung to look at.

Quinn stood by the bed and tossed a stack of cash down in front of me.

"We're out of condoms. Go downstairs and buy some."

My body stalled for a moment. I looked down at the money on the floor.

My eyes burned.

After two seconds of silence, I still bent down, picked it up, and turned for the door.

Behind me came Quinn's cold laugh.

"You've gotten more dutiful by the day. Obedient about everything. Not a trace of temper left."

There was an anger in those words that even he hadn't noticed.

Everything he'd done was meant to make me obey.

But now that I obeyed, he found it unbearable.

I kept my eyes lowered, nothing moving inside me.

The heart that had once burned for him had gone numb through disappointment after disappointment.

Quinn thought I was giving in. What he didn't know was this.

I had made a deal with the System.

For every point my Heartbreak Value and my Good-Wife Value climbed, I could redeem a hundred points.

The System's voice sounded in my head.

【Cooking reward, 50 points.】

I smiled.

Two hundred points to go.

Once I had enough, I could take my son and leave this world.

I walked out of the mansion with the money in my hand.

Only then did I notice the rain pouring down.

The cold bit into me.

I felt none of it.

There had been a time when Quinn took me up to the old hilltop chapel to pray for blessings.

On the way back, the rain came down hard and a flash flood broke loose.

We had no time to take cover, and a slide of boulders pinned us in.

One of them, easily half a ton, came down hard on Quinn and held him there.

His face twisted, blood at the corner of his mouth.

The sight of it terrified me. I shoved at him with everything I had, screaming.

"Go. Leave me!"

But Quinn forced himself to hold that boulder up by sheer strength.

His back stayed rigid and straight, and even with blood soaking through his clothes, he wouldn't give up.

His eyes on me were absolutely steady, every word scalding.

"Nare, I will never give up on you."

"We live together or we die together. In this life I'll marry no one but you."

Back then it moved me to pieces, and I believed his lies.

"Miss, the rain's coming down hard and you don't even have an umbrella. You're soaked through."

The convenience store clerk's voice pulled me back to reality.

Only then did I realize I had walked into the store without noticing.

Soaked to the bone.

I pushed down the bitterness churning inside me and quietly picked up two boxes.

After I paid, I turned and headed back to the mansion.

I pushed the door open, and the warmth inside rushed at me.

Quinn looked up. His eyes traveled over my dripping hair and my soaked clothes.

His brow creased, and for once something close to real concern crossed his face.

"Go take a hot shower first, before you catch a cold."

The cold had gone out of his voice, replaced by a kind of gentleness.

"There's brown sugar on the lower shelf in the kitchen. Make yourself some warm honey tea after to take the chill off."

Nothing in me stirred. I only answered flatly.

I knew exactly how hollow this gentleness of his was.

Gone in a breath.

I had no use for the scraps he handed out.

Just then the System's cold prompt sounded in my head.

【Reward for shopping in the storm: 100 points.】

A flicker of light crossed my eyes.

Perfect. I was only a hundred points short of the end.

Then I could take my son and leave.

The thought filled me with drive, and I changed into dry clothes.

But it didn't take long for me to notice something was off.

Ever since I'd come in, the house had been far too quiet.

I frowned, every nerve drawn tight, and went to find Quinn.

"Where's Wyatt Delgado? Why haven't I seen him?"

The gentleness Quinn had worn a moment ago vanished. His face went dark in an instant.

The temperature around him dropped to freezing.

"Ginny's been in a bad mood lately. The kid bothers her. I sent him over to the other house."

The blood ran backward in my veins, and my chest clenched all at once.

A chill shot straight through me, into every limb.

No one knew better than I did that my son had severe congenital night blindness.

The moment night fell, his world went black, and he couldn't be left alone for a single step.

I couldn't even imagine how he was supposed to manage on his own in a strange place.

I forced down the fury rising in me, my voice shaking.

"He's still so little, he can't be left alone. How could you just send him off by himself?"

Quinn's face turned colder still.

His gaze cut at me like a blade, fixed and unblinking.

"In your eyes, is there nothing but that child?"

When I heard it, all I felt was how absurd it was.

I didn't understand what he was raving about now.

I gave a cold laugh on the spot.

"What else would there be?"

Three simple words, and they pushed Quinn over the edge.

His jaw went tight, his teeth clenched.

"Narelle, if you want to see the kid, you'll behave yourself and do as you're told."

I lifted my eyes and looked straight at him, the cold in them going to the bone.

"Quinn, you're using my son to threaten me again?"

He felt no guilt at all. If anything, his face said he couldn't care less.

"If you don't want to be threatened, that works too. Just harden your heart, forget about the kid, and you're free."

He knew better than anyone that my son was my one weak spot.

I knew he was an animal, but I'd never thought he could be this heartless toward his own son.

I drew a deep breath and clenched my fists.

Slowly I pressed down the tide of hatred at the bottom of my heart.

I knew every act of resistance was meaningless.

All I wanted now was to take my son and leave.

I lowered my eyes, my voice calm.

"Quinn, what do I have to do to see my son?"

Quinn looked down at me sideways, his fist clenched so hard it creaked.

Something I couldn't read churned in his eyes.

After a moment, his thin lips parted.

"Kneel and beg me."

I didn't hesitate. I knelt straight down in front of him.

In front of my son, what did dignity matter?

Just a little longer, and I could leave for good.

Quinn looked down at me from above, the emotion in his black eyes thick and heavy.

He ground out the words through his teeth, furious.

"Narelle, you really are cheap."

I said nothing. I only listened in silence.

I didn't understand what he was so angry about.